


You know where I'm from.

by bvbabe9



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Child Abuse, F/M, JJ's dad sucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-02-22 23:49:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23769118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bvbabe9/pseuds/bvbabe9
Summary: AU where John B brings Kiara into the group and JJ is not so happy about it, at least at first. He doesn't have the time or patience to deal with her when he had enough to deal with at home.
Relationships: JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 93





	You know where I'm from.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first story. First of all, english isn't my first language so please excuse any misntakes. I've always liked writing but hadn't thought of posting anything. With the quarantine and all, I have a lot of time to write. Plus I just loved the character of JJ and felt inspired to write something. This is in no way meant to make light of the very serious issue that is child abuse.

Everyone had it hard in The Cut, JJ wouldn’t say he had it harder than anyone in particular. Sure, his home life wasn’t the best, but he could get by. He had friends, a roof over his head and food more often than not.

That was the life of a pogue, surviving. John B’s dad had disappeared at sea and Pope was struggling to make his scholarship happen.

It had always just been the three of them. It wasn’t until a few months ago that Kiara came into their life. She came as a surprise, a rich kid slumming it with the lowest of fish in the food chain.

It had been at a party, apparently John B and her had gotten to talking at a party. He had been the one to bring her into the group. Pope had not opposed to it much, he clearly was attracted to her. He, however, was not as immediately accepting. He couldn’t take her talking about the “pogue lifestyle” when she didn’t actually have to live in it. She got to dip her toes in whenever she wanted, for fun, and leave whenever she wanted. But she never had to go hungry, her clothes always clean and new, she didn’t have to worry if a storm was coming, her family was good to her.

He could tell she was making an effort to be on his good side, she knew he wasn’t a big fan of her.

Things were tense between them.

It was the night 4th of July, he was working of course, when was he not? He’d gotten a job as a waiter at some fancy party. He didn’t expect to run into her there, I mean she was part of that circle, but it always seemed like she avoided all the social events it entailed. Imagine his surprise when she tapped him on the shoulder asking for a margarita.

“Could I get a margarita, please? No ice.” The familiar voice asked.

He turned around, something akin to shock on his face.

“JJ, what are you doing here?” sounding equally as surprised to see him there.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m working, you know, some of us need to work to put food on the table.” He said, getting to work on her cocktail.

“Are you going to John B’s later?” she asked, ignoring his comment.

“Maybe, I don’t know, this party ends pretty late and, again, I’m working, so I can’t just leave when I feel like it.”

“Okay… Have you talked to Pope?” she asked, sounding concerned.

“Not really, he’s preparing for his interview, so I didn’t want to bother him. Why?”

“It’s just that… he kissed me the other night… I rejected him.”

“It was bound to happen; he’s had a crush on you since John B brought you in to the mix” he said handing her the drink. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do and I can’t afford to get fired.”

“Uh yeah sure, sorry”.

Okay he did kind of feel bad for talking to her like that, but he had a lot on his plate and plus he didn’t trust her still. She was an insider pretending to be an outsider.

Turns out he felt bad enough about it to turn up to John B’s after the party had finished and he had helped cleaning up. They were all gathered around a fire, sipping their beers, not talking much.

“Hey” he said sitting down next to John B.

“Dude, I was beginning to think you weren’t gonna show, they kept you there forever” JB responded.

Pope raised his hand at him as a from of welcoming. It was clear he had a lot on his mid with the whole Kiara thing.

“Hi…” Kiara said.

He nodded to her.

“So how come you guys are still here?” he found himself asking.

“I was actually just leaving…” Pope said, sounding tired. “I’ll call you tomorrow JJ and we can go down to the beach, surf a little”.

“Sure man, see ya tomorrow”.

Kiara sighed, knowing Pope was leaving because of her and taking a gulp of her beer.

“I’m going to hit the sack guys; I’ve got work in the morning. You staying the night, JJ?” John B asked.

“Uh, yeah. If you don’t mind. If I go home now, I’ll wake up my dad.” John B nodded at him, a weird look on his face and went inside the chateau.

Sometimes he wondered, if John B and Pope knew. If they knew what his dad did to him. JJ had always gotten into a lot of fights, so he never had problem making excuses for the marks his father left. But he couldn’t help but wonder.

“So, you talk things out with Pope?”

“Obviously not, he couldn’t wait to get out of here.” Kiara said, sounding tipsy and sad at the same time.

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow; he’ll get over it” JJ offered.

“Since when do you care?” she said accusingly.

“I care about him, couldn’t care less about you” he somewhat regretted that as soon as he had said it.

“I don’t know why you hate me so much, I watched you tonight you know, you were nice to all the guests, except for me. What did I ever do to you?” she asked, offended, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

“You pretend to be one of us, but you aren’t. Is it fun to pretend to be poor, as long as you get to go back to your fancy house at the end of the day?”

“I’m not pretending, okay? I know what I have, what my family has, I just don’t fit in with that circle. My family is too oppressing, they want me to be perfect and go to these stupid parties with people I hate.” She explained. Feeling sorry for herself, JJ thought.

He scoffed. “I may not like kooks, including your parents, but you don’t know how lucky you are to have them. You try to be one of us, when you will never have to go through any of what we go through. You’ll never go hungry, you’ll go to a good college, get a dog, get married and have kids, all of it. Your parents love you, that’s more than most of us have.” That had shut her up.

“I know that!” she screamed at him.

“Really? Because I don’t think you do. Don’t complain to me about your parents hounding you about your grades, when John B and I had to drop out and start working. Don’t complain to me about your parents forcing you to go to parties, when John B’s dad is missing, and Pope’s dad is working his ass off to send him to college… when my dad…” he stopped himself.

“Your dad what?” she asked.

“Never mind. Look I’ll talk to Pope, it’s enough that John B brought you in, I don’t want you tearing the group apart or distracting Pope before his interview.” He said, standing up and retreating into the shack.

She stayed there, for god knows how long, until she sobered up enough to walk home. Still thinking about the blond boy.

It had been a couple of days since he had last seen her, around that fire at JB’s. He had left that morning and she wasn’t there. She hadn’t slept there; she had gone back to her cozy house. He could not blame her, if he lived where she did, he would want to go back too. But he didn’t.

He had called Pope, they were gonna hang out today. He was walking to the Heyward home when she saw Shoupe taking Pope away handcuffed, Heyward and Kiara screaming behind them. He didn’t know what it was about, but he knew he had to do something. Pope was the only one worth something, the only one with a future.

“Hey, what’s going on here?!”

“Your friend here sank Topper’s 2019 Malibu, all because they had roughed him up a bit” Shoupe told him.

“It wasn’t him.” he said. “It was me, I did it, even took Heyward’s boat to do it. I was pissed they had beat him up, I lost it.”

“What the hell are you doing JJ!” Pope screamed at him.

“I did it, I can’t let you take the blame. You have too much to lose.” He turned to Shoupe. “He’s a good kid, you know where I’m from.”

Shoupe nodded, releasing Shoupe and handcuffing him instead. He guided him to the car and shoved him in.

“I told you not to hang around that kid” Heyward said, disapprovingly.

“It wasn’t him okay. I did it, all on my own. He just doesn’t want it to affect my scholarship” Pope cried. “That kid you hate so much just saved my future.”

“Why would he do that?” Kiara asked, still in shock.

“It’s not his first time being arrested, plus like I said he doesn’t want me to mess up my future. He always does this shit; he doesn’t care what happens to him”. Pope said running his hands through his hair.

He knew he was fucked as soon as he saw him. His father, furious. He signed some papers and bailed him out.

He also knew what was going to happen when he got in the car, when they were alone, and no one could see them. It still surprised him, the force of the blow. Blood splattered across the window.

It was later on that night, when he was serving tables for another one of those fancy parties. Pope and Kiara had come up to him. She looked beautiful; Pope was there for work, just as he was. They pulled him aside. Pope pulled him into a hug.

“Man, why would you do that?”

“A simple thank you would suffice Pope” he answered.

Pope paused to get a proper look at his face. He knew it looked bad, he didn’t even know how they had let him work tonight, it wasn’t a good look to have a beat up kid waiting tables.

“Did Shoupe do that to you?” Pope asked motioning to the bruising on his face.

“Um, no, don’t worry, it’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing, your face is black and blue. Did Topper and Rafe get you again?” Kiara asked him, concern clear on her face.

“We can get them back” said Pope, subconsciously looking around for the two kooks.

“No, no. It wasn’t them, don’t worry about it”.

“How much do you owe in restitution? I’ll pay you back man”. Said Pope, still feeling guilty.

“Don’t worry dude. I’ll come up with something. I want you to focus on preparing for your interview.”

Pope nodded, not yet convinced.

“Was your dad mad?” asked Kiara.

“… I have to get back to work guys, we’ll talk later” he said, getting to work, asking for orders.

Pope shot Kiara a look.

“What?! What did I say?”

“His dad is an asshole! Probably gave him those bruises. Don’t ask about his dad, steer away from that topic.”

“His dad did that to him?” she asked exasperated. “His dad beats him? And you knew?”

“Well he didn’t say it in so many words. But he said Shoupe didn’t do it, or Topper and Rafe. John B and I have suspected for a while, but he won’t talk to us about it. They way he reacted just now, it was definitely his dad.” Pope explained, a sad expression on his face.

They got through the party, agreeing to meet and JB’s later. They walked together, in silence towards the chateau, JJ still in his uniform.

JB was lounging around when they got there.

“Hey guys, you finally decided to show up” he greeted. His face changed in a split second, taking a good look at JJ. "What the hell happened to you man? Was it... was it your dad?"


End file.
